1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a curable polymer composition, and more particularly to a curable polymer composition which has good storage stability and is cured quickly in the presence of water.
2. Description of the Related Art
A curable composition of an organic polymer which has a silicon-containing group to the silicon atom of which a hydrolyzable group is bonded and which is cross linkable through formation of a siloxane bond (hereinafter referred to as a "silicon-containing hydrolyzable group") and can be converted to a rubbery material is known from, for example, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. 73998/1977, and such the curable polymer composition is used as a sealant.
The curable polymer composition is supplied in the form of a two pack system or a one pack system. In the two pack system composition, a main component containing the polymer and a curing agent are separately packed and mixed just before use, while in the one pack system composition, the main component and the curing agent are mixed and sealed in the same pack in the absence of water and exposed to the air whereby the mixture absorbs moisture in the air and cures. Although the one pack type composition is preferable in view of its easy handling property, it often suffers from undesirable curing during storage and cannot be used. Then, a curable polymer composition having good storage stability is highly desired.
One of the causes of loss of the storage stability is water contained in inorganic fillers which are added to the curable polymer composition in a comparatively large amount to impart a rubbery properties to the cured material or reduce the cost of the composition. Water contained in the inorganic fillers reacts with the silicon-containing hydrolyzable group during storage to cross link the polymer and makes the composition unusable.
It was found that a curable polymer composition comprising an organic polymer having the silicon-containing hydrolyzable groups and, as a filler, a vinyl chloride base resin has good storage stability, and that, when such resin composition contains a plasticizer, a cured material from such composition has good tensile properties (cf. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 106,300 filed on Oct. 9, 1987 now abandoned and European Patent Application No. 87 114 721.1). However, during storage of the curable polymer composition containing the vinyl chloride base resin tends to be gelled with the plasticizer and therefore the viscosity of the composition is increased, so that the composition cannot be used as the sealant.